Merger talks between KWM and WongPartnership fail

May 22, 2013
Merger negotiations between King & Wood Mallesons and Singaporean firm WongPartnership have failed just days before the firms were scheduled to announce their merger plans to the public.

King & Wood Mallesons had planned to announce a merger deal during a week-long annual global partnership conference in March, on the first anniversary of the merger between Mallesons Stephen Jaques and King & Wood. Guests received an invitation indicating that there would be a ‘special announcement’ at the event, which was widely believed to refer to the merger with WongPartnership.

WongPartnership pulled out of the deal just days before the announcement because of disagreement regarding aligning the financials between the firms, and a resulting reluctance from a number of WongPartnership partners to go ahead.